The Shifters
by Linh Song
Summary: Shifters. The rarest kind of ability in the elvin world. The ability which Sara, Gracie, Mali, Jason, Renee and Angel have. The ability the have to stop the Neverseen once and for all.
1. Chapter 1

**Before I begin I'd like to tell you all that this Fanfic's characters are based on my friends Grace, Renee, Jason, Mali, Sara and Me; Angel (thats not my real name but whatevs)**

 **Story time!**

"Hi Angel! Hi Jason!" Renee called down the hallway to Angel's locker. Angel grinned as she tossed her locker door open. "Hey Renee!"

Jason waved to Angel and Renee as he entered his locker combo.

Grace was at her locker getting her stuff for homeroom.

"Renee what happened to you? You look gorgeus!" Angel exclaimed. She really did; from her black leather boots to her fur coat and short black hair.

"When do I not?" she asked, jokingly.

Angel laughed. "Never. But you ready for the dance today?"

"No." Jason and Renee said at the same time, all three of them laughing.

"Well, gotta go, you two, see ya!" Angel ran down the hall to see Grace reading a book called _the Hunger Games._

"I love that book," Angel told Grace, making Grace jump and hit her head on her locker.

"Hi Angel!" she replied, rubbing her head and glaring at her locker.

"Hi Angely Poo!" Mali and Sara said simultaneously, making Reese roll her eyes and Grace pounce on Mali.  
"You guys are weird," Angel informed them.

Grace grabbed her stuff as she and Angel headed on to homeroom.

"Hey, ya wanna play Capture the Flag at recess?" Angel asked.

"Yeah! We'll ask the rest later," Grace replied. "Shoot we're dancing today, right? Uuuugggh we suck! Yours is good though."

"No. we are too obsessed with Hamilton, we can't be good," Angel sighed. "You're good though. C'mon let's get to science."

When they arrived at their classroom they were met not by their usual teacher, but by a subsitute who called himself "Mr. Dizznee." He had to be only around 17, he didn't look any older to Grace at least.

"Hello there, you must be Angel and Grace?" He asked, smiling. The girls nodded. "How did you know?" Sara asked from behind, making Angel and Grace jump.

"Ah and you must be Sara? And Mali?"

"HOW DO YOU DO THAT?!" Mali asked, freaking out. Mr. Dizznee laughed. "I... uh... Can you keep a little secret?" He asked. The class leaned in to hear.

"I hacked the registry accounts."

"DUUUDDDE!" The class shrieked. Mr. Dizznee smirked. "Okay time for class! Today we are going to be programming on Python! So! Who here knows how to make a code so that your piece of artificial intelligence can tell an odd number from an even number on Python?"

Angel immediately raised her hand.

"Yes, Angel?" Mr. Dizznee asked.

Just then the class screamed. A swarm of bees had gotten in and was flying around the classroom. Mr. Dizznee ran to his desk and flipped through a bunch of bottles. Elixirs he called them.


	2. Chapter 2

Angel heard a buzzing next to her ear. _Don't be frightened._

Angel gasped. Grace, Sara and Mali must be experiencing similar things judging from Grace's face, Sara's open mouth and Mali's wide grin.

 _What are you doing here?_ Angel asked.

 _The Councillors sent us to find the Shifters. You and your friends are Shifters, judging by how you can understand everything that I am saying right now. Don't worry we won't sting ur friends; if they're smart enough not to swat us away._

 _WAIT! COUNCILLORS?! WHAT?!_ Butthe bee was long gone explaining the same thing to Grace, Mali and Sara.

 _We just need Jason and Renee..._ Angel heard a bee mumble as it flew by. Angel gulped. Should she put her friends lives in the hands of a bunch of bees? The answer was yes.

"I know where they are!" Angel blurted out.

The bee turned to her. "Please get them."

Angel nodded and dashed to Jason and Renee's homeroom; which had been invaded by beetles. The rest of the class laid unconscious on the ground; Jason and Renee the only ones remaining.

Angel quickly explained everything to them and they ran back to Angel's homeroom; finding the same thing. Mr. Dizznee was holding Mali and Grace's hand; Sara on the other side of Grace. The other three Shifters gripped their hands too; and together Mr. Dizznee leapt them to Eternalia.

It was beautiful. Like a place straight out of a dream.

"Welcome to the Lost Cities," Mr. Dizznee declared proudly.

That was it.

Angel fainted.


	3. Chapter 3

Angel woke up to see her friends standing above her, with a girl with blond hair and brown eyes. A boy stood next to the blonde, who introduced herself as Sophie Foster. Wait. The boy was Mr. Dizznee!

"This is Dex Dizznee, my cuz," she told me. "And in comes Fitz Vacker, Keefe Sencen, Biana Vacker, Linh Song, and Tam Song." The people she introduced walked in on cue.

Angel almost fainted again, but was too busy looking around the room. "Uh, where are we?" Sara asked, as if reading her mind.

"We're in Rimeshire; Dex's home." Sophie explained. Just then, there was a crashing of glass, a few loud giggles, and an adult voice saying; "GET OVER HERE LEX! DONT YOU DARE BEX! NO, NO, NO-" another glass vase crashing "REX! GET OVER HERE!"

Gracie grinned. "Rex? Lex? Bex? Dex?"

"Yup. I know, my family's awesome." Dex grinned.

"So... you must be the Shifters!" Sophie said excitedly, met only by confusion from the Shifters. "Hang on... what's a Shifter again?" Jason asked.

Sophie and her friends were taken aback. "You don't know? Oh nevermind. Of course you don't know." She bent down. "Shifters are a very, extremely rare ability recently discovered. In the records, there states that there are six Shifters in the entire world. And you are the six. You can shapeshift into anything you put your mind to. And your power is beyond match. Mesmer's minds cannot beat your shape-shifting minds; since they're so flexible from shifting all the time. And most telepaths will get lost in your minds. Just note that you are probably the most powerful elves alive."

The six Shifters looked at each other in shock. Except maybe Mali and Gracie. They were grinning like weirdos.

"So we can Shapeshift?!" They asked at the same time.

Fitz laughed. "That's right." Fitz was truly gorgeous; just like his sister. It was mostly his startling teal eyes; Angel had never seen anyone with that shade before. Sara could tell that Fitz had an accent; but not like any accent she's heard of before. And... Elvin?

"So we're elfs?" Renee asked.

"Elves," Linh corrected. She had a sweet voice that sounded as smooth as aflowing river, and her smile was as beautiful as she was. Her straight, black hair ended in silver tips, and her silver-blue eyes completed her amazing look. Angel immediately knew she'd like this girl very much.

Keefe stood up. "So, we are going to assign houses today eh? Feel free to call me uncle Keefe, young ones." He shot finger guns at Mali, who was staring at him, wide-eyed.

Keefe laughed. "I call this one!" He announced, pointing to Mali. Mali squealed and hugged Keefe, who awkwardly stumbled back. Mali blushed fiercely, and let go.

"Can I go with Linh?" Angel blurted out. Linh smiled. "If it's okay with Tam."

Tam rolled his eyes, but nodded.

"Aw, I wanted Ms. Technopath Angel over there!" Mr. Dizznee pouted. Sophie was surprised. "Angel's a technopath?"

"very possibly! She seemed an expert in my programming class! But I guess I'll take Gracie over there..." Gracie grinned, but instead of hugging Dex, she ran out of the room and shouted; "RIMESHIRE SHALL BE MINE!" Down the hall. Everyone laughed, except the Shifters, who were still getting over the shock.

"I'll take... Renee," Fitz said, smiling at Renee. Renee smiled back, high-fiving Fitz and went to sit behind him. Sure. Gorgeus beauty with gorgeus dude. By gorgeus beaty Angel meant Renee. And Renee was handling this awfully well. Angel was still staring shellshoced at the elves and trying to get over the fact that she wasn't human.

"Sara's fine with me," Sophie said, smiling a smile almost as sweet as Linh's. Sara smiled and gave Sophie a thumbs up. Another calm person. Why is it only me and Angel? Jason asked himself.

Tam growled. "I guess I'll have Jason." Jason tried a smile, but instead a look of pure fear came out. Sophie rolled her eyes. "Tam, be more welcoming!"

"Well, I'll be taking Malipoo home!" Keefe said, breaking up Sophie and Tam's glaring competition, which Tam eventually won. The Songs leapt their new visitors back to Choralmere; where Quan and Mai were strangly no where to be seen.

"Where are your parents?" Jason asked, bewildered.

Linh sighed. "Our parents bought a new home. They gave this home to us. More like Mai did. Quan hated us."

Tam nodded, but he didn't look sad at all. In fact, he looked extremely angry. "Mai hated us too. Neither of them deserves us."

"Okay, so, Jason's sharing a room with Tam and I'm dharing a room with Linh?" Angel asked, breaking the silence. Linh nodded, and showed Angel and Jason around. Tam took the rear, scowling at everyone and everything but Linh.

Just then Linh's imparter buzzed. "Sophie, what is it?" Linh asked in an urgent voice. Tam peered over her shoulder to see.

"The Neverseen attacked Havenfield and took Sara! Now they're going after Angel and Jason!"


	4. Chapter 4

_Boom!_ The door of Choralmere exploded. In walked a figure in a black coat with an eye on it.

It stood there for a while. Then turned to the door and commanded; "Find the Shifters."

Tam quickly shrouded them with shadows, Linh adding more moisture. The head figure held a bound Sara while his colleagues scavenged for Angel and Jason.

Angel couldn't stand it any more. She closed her eyes and instantly transformed into a black cat, slinking down the hallway. Linh freaked out. "Angel! Get back here!"

Angel stalked towards the figure with Sara and pounced at the right time, transforming into a tiger. "Ruy!" The figure barked before kicking Angel. Angel hissed and pounced again, wounding the figure. He or she screamed, and flipped off her hood.

Under there, was a once beautiful woman, with an ugly scar down her face from where Angel scratched her. There was a maniacal look in her eyes; she was a psychopath.

Angel was momentarily taken aback when the woman shoved a shard of glass into Angel's stomach.

"Shifter!" She screamed. Angel growled and broke Sara's bounds with a swipe of her claws. She attacked the woman again, this time the woman couldn't block her.

"Vespera!" A male voice shouted, blocking Vespera from Angel with a force field. Another figure came and tried to stab a weak Angel with a sword, but a bear knocked into him and pinned him to the ground.

Jason as a bear tossed Gethen into a wall, knocking him unconscious. Just then the force field broke.

"Go!" Tam shouted from the door of the room. Linh shot a jet of water at Vespera, making her shriek with pain. Jason, Sara and Angel attacked Ruy, and releatedly punched him until he went unconscious. Vespera, the only one left conscious, got up and with the last of her energy, stabbed Sara hard in the arm, and disappeared into the shadows.

"how did she do that?" Tam asked, unable to find her in the shadows. "That's impossible!"

"SARA!" Linh cried, rushing to Sara. Angel limped over and Jason transformed back. "Elwin..." Linh rapidly tapped her imparted for the physician while Angel transformed back and rested. Elwin came quickly and looked down at Sara and Angel, immediately starting to treat them.

"How did Vespera do that?" Tam demanded from Elwin. Elwin shook his head. "She must have an extremely powerful shade on her team." He looked up. "Not Umber."

"Another recruit?"

"A way too powerful one."


	5. Chapter 5

**To all of you who do not know, Sara shall now be known as Sam. Yes it is a unisex name and she is a girl.**

 **Thank you lovekotlc and soul of storie and everyone else who reviewed! I am really grateful and if I see any stories by you I will try to review as well!**

 **Story time!**

A shade who can teleport through shadows? Sounds like Nico in Percy Jackson. Huh.

Sam (if you haven't read what I wrote above, Sara is now Sam.) lay on her bed in Havenfield. She was constantly more alert for Neverseen members now.

She sighed. No, she wasn't weak. She fought as hard as she could, along with Sophie, Grady and Edaline. Yes, she had figured out how to shapeshift, though she had to admit, she still wasn't an expert. But Vespera had managed to resist Grady's mesmerizing with her thinking cap, and injured Grady, since hisonly defense was his powerful mesmerizing.

Ruy incased the injured Grady in a forcefield with Vespera and him, threatening to kill him off if they didn't hand Sam over. Sophie wouldn't let Sam go, but didn't want Grady to die either. Perfect bait. How did Vespera know that Sam would be selfless enough to give up herself for Grady?

She shrugged herself out of Sophie's grip and put her hands up, walking towards the Neverseen. Being her calm self, she didn't show any fear or bewilderment. Bt any person in their right mind would feel that, no matter what they showed on the outside.

The moment they let Grady go, she shapeshifted into a tiger and leapt onto Vespera, but was stopped by a melder shot in the gut. She had no choice but to let them tie her up and gag her, which was the worst part of all. She had to at least be able to torture the Neverseen by spilling out rude wirds to them!

Sophie inflicted too, but Vespera vanished into the shadows, not leaving a trace behind.

It was a relief that Angel and Jason untied her, otherwise she'd just be held as more bait. She hated being held hostage or bait. It gave her a feeling of helplessness that led to anger and frustration. Being helpless about something was not a choice.

Sam rolled onto her side and clicked open her Imparter. Her arm had healed just fine after numerous Elwin's elixirs and a week of bed rest with Angel.

Her Imparter buzzed, and Angel's face appeared on the screen. "Hi Sam, what's up?"

"Hey Angel. Wanna do some training with the other Shifters?"

Angel, surprisingly, freaked out. "HOW DO YOU ACT SO CALM ABOUT EVERYTHING THAT'S HAPPEBING RIGHT NOW? HOW DO YOU DO IT?"

Sam laughed. "Oh, I'm not calm. I'm absolutely terrified. But that's when I sound the firmest; keeping it tough. No one likes a crybaby now, right? Not that I'm calling you a crybaby, it's just; the key is, keep yourself together. Or do weird stuff like Gracie does."

Suddenly, Gracie's face also appeared on the screen. "HIII GUYS!" She shrieked.

Angel and Sam both screamed, then all three of them started laughing. Gracie was the first to regain her nerves.

"Who ya calling weird?"

Sam redened. "Uhh..."

Angel smirked, and in Sam's sake, changed the subject.

"So Sam wanted to do some shapeshifting training with you guys... and me..."

"Okay!" Gracie exclaimed. "But you forgot to ask how I'm on your Imparters!"

Angel and Sam both rolled their eyes at the same time, but grinned and asked; "How?" Gracie smiled from ear to ear as she responded; "DEX TAUGHT ME HOW TO HACK!"

Awkward silence. Angel, Sam and Grace could both hear Kesler screaming; "DEX! You're not supposed to teach kids how to hack! Lex don't you dare! No! Rex you're paying for that!"

Then they all broke out laughing again.

 **Adria**

"Good work Adria!" Vespera smiled proudly at the young twelve year old recruit. Adria grinned wickedly. Vespera had never been so pleased with her. Then Vespera turned to Ruy, who she had taken back in her shadow traveling as well, in frustration.

"Ruy! You couldn't handle a bunch of nine year olds? This is pathetic! Pathetic, I tell you! Absolutely pathetic!" She striked him hard across the cheek. Then she turned back to Adria. "You did what I assigned you. It's incredible for a twelve year old. Go get your dinner and go on to bed. Tomorrow we're training to get those Shifters. You understand how important it is to get them, right?"

Adria nodded. She glared at Ruy, and after Vespera left, towered over him in pure hatred. "How could you let them get past so easily! You have forcefields on your side! And lady Vespera! And you still fail? You deserve that slap on the cheek for all I care!"

She gently closed the door to her room and plopped on the bed. The hideout still smelled hideously like toenails, and rotten food of course, but she belonged here. Who were those stupid Councillors accusing of a failure? They're the failure! Adria could see nothing wrong with defending herself from a ruthless vanisher; definitely not Biana Vacker, or any of the vackers. They were too perfect for that.

It was a boy named Driken Ferling; from Foxfire; who started to show off and attacking Adria with his ability. Adria had no choice but to blind him with shadows to stop him; even if it meant him accidentally falling off a hill and breaking his arms. It was an accident.

But the Councillors were so desperate to show they were making progress with the evil in the Lost Cities, they banished her to Exilium. They even banished her brother. Her innocent, bystanding brother. And yet they let that Girl of Many Floods go may times until they had no choice but to banish her. Adria didn't want to cower in the shadows; so she only make the evil even stronger; making the elvin world completely out of control. Satisfaction.

She wrinkled her nose at the food. Bleh. It looked like a rat stuffed with dead worms. She gently pushed her plate out from under her door and stretched out on the bed. She didn't really want to capture the Shifters. They seemed so nice and innocent. But if it meant bringing down the Council, it'd be worth it.

She started daydreaming about someday making Councillor Emery kneel at the ground, helpless. Yes, not very pretty thoughts for a twelve year old. But very satisfying. She looked up at the ceiling. When sleep didn't come, she jumped out of her bed and went diwn the hall to get a drink of water. While she was passing Vespera's room, she heard her and Lady Gisela whispering in low voices.

She stretched out her shadow to hear better.

"... That stupid Adria still thinks she's our key person; our moonlark." Lady Gisela laughed. "Eventually she'll understand that she's only being used. That a moonlark means nothing to us. We should just kill her off in her sleep."

Vespera unhesitantly nodded. Adria quickly shadow traveled away from vespera's room, neither of the leaders noticing her. They snuck into her room; and that's when Adria made her run for it.

She shadow traveled away to i don't know where, but definitely not the Neverseen hideout. Used. Nothing. A tool.

She growled in anger and frustration. So, the Council thought they could do anything with her and the Neverseen thought they could use her and kill her. There was only one choice left.

Adria stood up and headed in the direction of the Black Swan.


	6. Chapter 6

**Alexandra**

Alexandra opened the door of Adria's room. "Adria?"

The room was empty. Frowning, Alexandra closed the door. She sighed and clicked open her Imparter. "Adria, ya there? Where are you? Vespera sent me to look for you."

Adria's face filled the screen. "Vespera asked you to look for me?"

"Uh, yeah. Where are you?"

Adria's eyes widened in fear. "I've escaped. Vespera and Lady Gisela were planning to kill me in the middle of the night. I know this is weird and hard for you to take in, but just... like can you come to Wildwood forest?"

"You're asking me to escape?" Alexandra asked, raising an eyebrow. What has gotten into Adria?

Adria sighed. "Yes. Look you're not safe with the Neverseen any more. I trusted them. They ended up trying to kill me off because I was useless. No offense, Alexandra, but they don't use you a lot. Which mean's you're in crucial danger."

What? Vespera and Lady Gisela wanted to kill of Adria? This couldn't be real. Adria meant too much to them. It had to be something beyond uselessness...

"Okay," Alexandra reluctantly said. Adria never lied. There was something that seemed off about her room anyway...

Alexandra turned around just in time to see a gorgodon lunge at her.

She screamed and shot a melder at him, shocking him. It won't be for long though.

Alexandra held a leaping crystal to the light just as the gorgodon lunged again, but she had already dissolved into particles light enough for light to carry her. She was off to Wildwood.

 **Renee**

Renee closed the book she was reading on Elvin History when Fitz popped his head in the room. "Hey Renee, it's breakfast."

"Okay." Renee got up and put the book on the table beside Fitz's bed. Yes, she was surprisingly calm compared to most of her other friends; Jason and Angel freaking out about Shifting and stuff, Gracie and Mali going crazy over everything that's new, and Sam... well, she was pretty calm too. But Renee could see through her tough disguise and realize that Sam was actually terrified.

Renee... let's just say that she's a calm and cool person in general. Which means when she's supposed to be freaked out, she's calm. And unlike Sam, on the inside she didn't really feel terrified at all. Change wasn't a thing that bothered her.

She followed Fitz down the stairs of Everglen to the kitchen. Everglen was truly breathtaking; as she walked across the glass floor of the hallway, fountains sprayed under her feet.

Through the window, she could see beautiful, rolling hills and green grass fresh with dew. It truly was a delight living here.

It was already one night. She missed her parents dearly but she wasn't human anymore. She was elvin. She had to live with Fitz, there was no other place. Washers had been sent out to wipe her family's memories.

Alden and Della greeted her with big smiles, and Biana fussed over her clothing.

"It's too plain! Fitz, why haven't you gotten something for her to wear?" she scolded. Renee rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. She already had on her dress for the dance in gym; which she never got to perform. But it was already the fanciest dress she had. Biana's dress was definitely more dazzling... but Renee didn't need that. She needed food.

She had just realized how hungry she was when she dug into the cake-like substance they called 'mallowmelt'. Whatever it is, it's delicious. Absolutely delicious.

Fitz smiled at her eagerness to devour her breakfast. "You can take the extra slice if you want."

Renee smiled gratefully and took the second piece without hesitation and gobbled it up just as fast as she did the first. Alden and Della laughed, as Biana and Fitz smiled.

"I have never met anyone who loved mallowmelt so much in her life!" Alden laughed, handing out the custard bursts that Della baked. Della, who was busy at making ripplefluffs, laughed as well. "Same here!"

Renee set aside her plate, took two custard bursts, and headed back upstairs to Fitz's room after she politely excused herself. She plopped down in his cushioned chair and clicked open her Imparter, and stuffing a custard burst in her mouth. It wasn't as good as mallowmelt, but it was still better than the best cheesecake.

"Hi Renee," Jason said as he came into view. Judging from the grass in his hair, he had been practicing shapeshifting.

Renee smiled. She had been wanting to tell this to Jason for years. Well, hours. But it felt like years.

"Okay, Angel and I have been researching abilities, and we found out there was this thing where Telepaths can have a special connection that can let them do more powerful things," Renee explained. "After more researching on Angel's side, we found out it is equally possible for Shifters to do the exact same thing. Well, no books said that, but according to scientific properties on the elvin sides, it's 100% possible!"

Jason's face lit up. Renee could tell he'd been wanting to be able to do something better and different from the other Shifters for a while already.

"Let's do it!" he exclaimed excitedly. Angel's face clicked into view as well. "Hi guys. Don't leave me out on this! I'm coming in like it or not!"

Jason and Renee both rolled their eyes, but agreed. Before Renee knew it, the doorbell of Everglen rung, and in walked...

a figure in a Neverseen cloak.


	7. Chapter 7

Sam jumped up when the doorbell of Havenfield rung. She cautiously stepped out of her room and walked to the stairs, where she could see that Edaline and Grady were opening the door.

"Edaline!" shouted a voice. "Grady!"

"Oh my goodness Lilly!" Edaline replied, closing the door and rushing to get Lilly some mallowmelt.

What? Lilly? Who was Lilly?

Sophie rushed in from her room. "OMG Lilly! I haven't seen you in forever!" The two girls hugged and laughed for a while, while Sam just stared at them.

Finally Lilly noticed Sam. "Oh, you must be the new Shifter that Sophie adopted, right?"

Sam growled when she heard the word 'adopted' but nodded reluctantly. Lilly smiled. "Wonderful! I'm gonna be staying here for a few weeks too. Sophie, I need to talk to you about Adria."

"Who's A-" Lilly pulled Sophie into another room before Sophie could finish her sentence.

Adria? Oh well whatever.

Just as Sam headed back to her room her Imparter buzzed urgently. Sam quickly clicked open the screen and grabbed her coat. "Renee! Are you okay?"

"SSSSSHHHHH!" Renee hissed. "A Neverseen dude is in my house! They said they wanted to talk to the Black Swan and the Shifters!"

"You said _a_ Neverseen dude, then you said _they._ "

"Okay there are two. I think one of them is the shade!"

Sam nodded. "I'm coming with Angel and Gracie." She hailed Angel and Gracie at the same time, while each of their faces filled half of the screen.

"Guys! Two Neverseen people raided Everglen! We have to go help!"

Angel quickly nodded and went to fetch Jason before she clicked away. Which probably was because she lightleaped away. Gracie also nodded and called; "DEX! I'M GOING ON A MISSION WITH MY FRIENDS TO GO MEET TWO NEVERSEEN PEOPLE!"

"WHAT?!" Dex ran down but Gracie had already leapt away.

Sam had no time to laugh. She rushed downstairs to the Leapmaster and shouted "Everglen!" Before Grady and Edaline could even see what was going on.

Sam glittered into being as she met up with Renee, Jason, Gracie, Mali, Angel, and Mr. Forkle. "Who hailed Mr. Fork?" Sam asked.

"You kids," Mr. Forkle muttered. "It's Forkle. And Mr. Jason hailed me here, they said 'Black Swan' too!"

"Where's the Neverseen members?"

"Terrorizing Alden and Della," Renee responded.

Before anyone could stop her, Angel once again slinked away as a black cat. But she would need more camoflauge than that.

She shapeshifted into a snake that perfectly matched the carpet's designs and slithered down to where she heard the shade talking calmly to a frightened Della and a freaked out Alden.

"So, where is your Shifter? In fact, where are the Shifters?" The other Neverseen member asked.

"Here," Angel hissed, but only quietly as she jumped on the Shade with a full bite at the shoulder.

The hood fell off as she screamed and fell down. But she wasn't in time for a cat, bear, tiger, dog and crocodile attack right after that.

She quickly teleported to another corner of the kitchen. She cleared her throat. "It is only natural for you to be frightened right now. But like, bro, I wanna join your side! The Neverseen freaking wanted to get me killed!"

"But they need you..." Mali replied suspiciously.

Adria shrugged. "I guess not. Anyway, I'm Adria, and this is my other runaway friend Alexandra."

Angel transformed back into an elf and waved, her eyes still darting around the two, looking for any hidden weapons.

That's when Mr. Forkle spoke up. "Of course you can join; but we'll need to keep a good eye on you two. Meanwhile, you can stay at our Black Swan hideout."

Welp, that was easy, Adria thought. The Shifters eyed Mr. Forkle suspiciously. That easy?

"Come on Adria, and Alexandra," Mr. Forkle said, lightleaping the three of them away. The Shifters looked at each other. "Do you think this is the right thing?" Gracie asked.

"No," all five other Shifters answered at the same time.


	8. Chapter 8

Adria

As Adria and Alexandra glittered into the Black Swan hideout, Mr. Forkle stepped out. "Kate!" He called. No response.

Adria and Alexandra looked at each other, mouthing "cuck-oo!"

Mr. Forkle tapped his foot impatiently. "Kate! Come on! Stop hiding!"

Then, a girl came into existence. She was around the Shifters age, and judging from the way that she can vanish and the way that she blinks in and out of sight is probably that she is a vanisher. But she had weird round thingamabobbers on her eyes. There seemed to be glass inside the circles...

"Kate! Mr. Forkle!" Another voice shouted. A girl with black hair came into view. How many weird recruits did the Black Swan have?

"Lilly!" Kate and Lilly high-fived while Lilly turned to Adria, narrowing her eyes. "I knew it. I knew that you'd try to fool us into accepting you, you spy!"

Adria held her hands up in self defense, swirling the shadows for affect. "Whoa whoa whoa, bro, I'm not a spy. The Neverseen wanted to kill me so I left them with my friend Alexandra. Is there any more that I need to explain?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "Uh, yes! Why would the Neverseen want to kill a useful elf like you? They need you."

"How should we know?!" Alexandra shot back. "They just decided that they wanted to kill her and me! Yeah! They set a gorgodon in my room!"

Kate and Lilly were both genuinely surprised.

Kate was the first to speak up. "We need to take them to Tam."

Adria snorted. "The Black Swan's former shade?"

"Former?" Lilly spat.

"I'm their new Shade now, thank you," Adria announced, disappearing into the shadows and reappearing behind Lilly with a knife at her neck. Lilly just rolled her eyes and a paintball fell out of the sky, splattering Adria.

"No, we have two shades now, including you. Now, where are those troublesome Keepers?" Kate looked around. It was the first time that Alexandra had noticed her dark brown hair, and glasses. She definitely looked like an elf, unlike some elves... *cough* Stina *cough*

Lilly's Imparter buzzed and she groaned. "Oh, hi Sophie! Could you get Tam over here?"

"Is it because of Adria and Alexandra?" She asked. Lilly spotted a moving shape in the corner. Sam must be listening.

"Yeah," Lilly answered anyway. Sophie nodded and clicked away. A few mibutes later Tam appeared, scowling at Alexandra and Adria. "Kate, who are these people? Oh hi Lilly."

Kate cleared her throat. "This is Adria and Alexandra, new recruits from the Neverseen."

Tam's eyes widened. "The Neverseen?!"

Lilly sighed. "Apparently the Neverseen wanted to kill them. So they came here."

Tam raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Awkward silence...

"Do the shadow reading already!" Kate hissed to Tam. Tam nodded and stretched his shadow out to Alexandra, making her shiver. He nodded his approval of the girl, while moving on to Adria. His shadow was immediately blocked by hers.

"Bro, I can't let you poke around my secrets."

Tam growled. "You must be the shade."

"So what if I am?"

The two shades did an epic stare down, which Adria won.

"Adria, just let him do it!" Kate told her.

Adria sighed and allowed Tam's shadow to pass. After what felt like hours, Tam frowned.

"What?" Lilly asked.

Tam growled. "She has too much shadowvapor."


	9. Chapter 9

Sophie sighed as she flopped on her bed. It was three days until her birthday, and Lilly had to go meet up with Mr. Forkle and Kate, and now she was stuck alone with no one. Her parents had gone out on a mission for the council, and she was left to give the verminion a bath. Bleck.

Oh wait. She wasn't alone after all.

"Sam?" She called. No response. Uh oh.

"Lilly, do you know where Sam went?" Sophie asked Lilly on the Imparter. Lilly waved the question aside. "She's here with me. There's something shady about the new shade here. The telepath has passed Tam's shadowvapor test though. I sent the telepath to make herself comfortable in the black swan's living room to wait for Adria."

"I'm coming!" Sophie shouted, and clicked off her Imparter before Lilly could respond.

When she glittered into view, she saw Adria swirling the shadows in self defense of Tam, who was slowly advancing on her.

"Adria! Tam! Both of you, stop!" Kate was desperately trying. to say, as Tam tried to blind Adria with shadows, but Adria sent her own wave in and knocked Tam in the head, making him a bit dizzy.

Then, a deafening "ROAR!" Sounded. Yay. Shifters to the rescue.

As Angel and Jason transformed back into their usual forms and jogged down the hill to meet them, Adria and Sophie smiled.

"Well, bro," Adria said to Tam, "Let's let the invincivle Shifters decide whether I'm trustworty or not."

"My talents are enough," Tam growled. Adria laughed. "Really? You don't even have any talents!"

"Ohhhh!" Jason, Angel and sophie said at the same time. "Roasted!" Tam, Adria, and even Kate looked at them with a raised eyebrow. They were obviously worried about their sanity.

"Okay we're coming," Jason finally said. He walked over to adria and transformed into a cat, then started staring at her. This was really getting on her nerves.

"Uh..." Adria said while Jason just kept staring. Adria slowly wrapped the shadows around her, hoping that that could stop Jason from continuing to creepily stare at her. But he easiy saw throught the shadows with his cat eyes. Kate tilted her head in thought.

"Normal cats can't usually see people's secrets," she explained. "They can only see through you. That's the reason why your cat kept staring at you when you still had him, Sophie." Sophie sighed. She must really miss Marty.

"But Jason seems to have his human and animal abilities combined when he shifts. I'm pretty sure that if that happens to Jason, that might also be able to happen to Angel, Gracie, Sam, and all the other shifters!" Kate declared. Everyone looked at Angel, making her gulp. "Uh, here goes nothing, then," she said awkwardly.

She transformed into a northern cardinal, and dove into the nearby pond. Incredibly, she could still swim normally despite her bird form. So, Kate's theory was right, she thought.

When she transformed back into human, Jason had finished staring at Adria. "I hereby claim that she is trustworthy!" He declared, and Tam growled while Kate clapped. Adria smirked. "Told ya bro."

Kate herself was overcome with happiness. "OMG! I actually discovered that! OMG! I'm gonna report this to Mr. Forkle! He'll be so proud! And so happy! One step closer to defeating the Neverseen!"

Adria cleared her throat. "Uh, you mean two steps closer? Alexandra and I just joined your team! Doesn't that count as at least one step?"

"Two steps closer to defeating the Neverseen," Kate corrected, and dashed back to the Black Swan hide out to tell Mr. Forkle. Tam remained frustrated. "But how can this be? I read too much shadowvapor! She can't just be deemed trustworthy! And I still think there's something going on with Forkle that he's not telling us. Why would he just suddenly let Adria and Alexandra into our organization?"

Sophie nodded. "I agree. There's definitely something going on." She turned to Jason and Angel. "Wanna go investigate with us?"

They looked at each other before following Sophie and tam to spy on Mr. Forkle. Just as Angel stepped on something that blasted her back.

"Angel!"

Jason ran over to where angel had crashed into; a pile of rubble. As he dug in the rubble to find her, Sophie and tam came over to help.

Finally, after searching every square foot of rubble, they gave up. Angel had disappeared.


	10. Chapter 10

**Brady, be quiet! Sorry, my friend Brady was the guest who reviewed and said: "I can't believe you put yourself in there" and "seriously?" Ignore him. Btw thank you Brady for the reviews!**

Story Time!

Gracie checked her Imparter. _Meet at Stardust Rock. Neverseen defeat plan. From Sophie._

She sighed. A few days ago she was at school playing with Angel, and now she's in a new world and shape-shifting frequently.

"Dex!" She shouted from the bed. Dex walked in, smiling. "What?"

"Sophie wants us at Stardust Rock and I'm too lazy to get up," she complained, flopping on the bed face-down.

Dex chuckled and held up his leaping crystal. "Well then, I'm leaving by myself! Bye!"

"Waaaittt fooorrr meeee!" Gracie moaned as she slid off the bed and sulked over to where Dex stood as he leapt them both to Stardust Rock, where Mr. Forkle, Sophie, Fitz, Biana, Keefe, Linh and Tam were waiting.

Dex frowned. "Where's everyone else?"

He heard a snort from within the shadow of a tree, and out stepped Adria and Alexandra, both smirking at the Keepers. "Bro, If you can't even see people standing in front of you, you got a fat chance of stopping the Neverseen." Adria smirked.

Right on cue, a fox leapt out of a bush, instantly transforming into Jason. Angel and Renee jumped down from a tree, laughing. The rest of the Keepers also showed up, and sat down for the Black Swan meeting.

Mr. Forkle cleared his throat. "So, Sophie and Dex have come up with an idea to defeat the Neverseen. With a lot of help from the new Black swan members and the Song twins, of course."

"Ahem." All eyes turned in the direction of Sam, Gracie, and Mali, who'd had cleared their throats. Mr. Forkle hurriedly corrected himself. "And the Shifters, definitely."

"What is it?" Mali asked, and Sophie leaned across the table to explain.

"Ms. Sam, Ms. Gracie and Ms. Mali have discovered a secret Neverseen hideout somewhere near Alluveterre. There they overheard the Neverseen discussing something about the entire crew meeting here to discuss a final plan that will destroy the council and Black Swan. Ms. Adria and Ms. Alexandra then told us that they know a bit about this plan and they even have a paper about it. The paper, please."

Mr. Forkle held out his hand at Adria and Alexandra, who glared at each other and whispered; "Where is it? I thought you had it!"

Mr. Forkle clucked his tongue. "You kids. Always losing things of utter importance. Do any of the Shifters happen to have it?"

Sam and Mali shook their heads. Then Gracie did something miraculous.

"Guys! I found it!" She exclaimed, grinning widely. Mr. Forkle smiled. "Wonderful, Ms. Gracie. Now, please take your seat. I'll let the Shifters take a moment to read the sheet."

"That rhymes," Alexandra whispered to Adria, both smirking.

Gracie leaned across the table. She'd never had a real, good look at it; just skimmed the words.

"What..." Renee started. Everyone looked towards Adria and Alexandra for an explanation. Gracie stood their confused. What do you mean, what? The words are right there! Can't they read?

Adria and Alexandra's faces whitened as they looked down at the sheet. "How did it do that?" Adria asked, outraged. "It was in the Enlightened language before! How did it switch to jibberish so fast?"

Gracie cleared her throat. "Ahem! The words are right in front of you. Do you guys somehow not see it?"

The Shifters looked at each other, each shaking their heads one at a time. Suddenly Jason snapped.

"Yes! Yes I understand now!" He exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the paper. Angel and Renee leaned in closer. Then their faces whitened too. Jason smiled in triumph. "Aha! I understand it!"

But Angel backed up, arms out at her side for balance. She coughed. "I have to go... somewhere..." she said, and she dashed out of the room. The rest of the elves looked at each other, shrugging.

Gracie was thinking though. How come she could understand the runes, and Jason, Renee and Angel, but how come the others just can't?

Suddenly, a memory triggered in her mind.

 _Eight year old Gracie leaned over the desk, writing jibberish on a piece of paper. She heard someone clear their throat above her, and she looked up to see a furious subsitute looking down at her._

 _"Miss Gracie, how many times have I already told you, I don't want you writing while we are learning Science! What even are you writing?"_

 _The substitute snatched the piece of paper before Gracie could hide it, and started looking at it. "Jibberish!" She announced after several seconds of trying uselessly to decipher it. "It's bad enough that your writing in my class, and it's worse that you're simply wasting your time writing jibberish! Your teacher will hear of this!"_

 _The subsitute scribbled Gracie's name on the blackboard and continued with her lesson, while throwing away the piece of paper. The moment class ended, Gracie fished in the recycling bin for the piece of paper, and finally found it._

 _But the writing wasn't hers anymore. It was another person's handwriting. Very familiar..._

 _She looked out the window, and jumped back when she saw a girl staring right through her soul. Freaky!_

 _The person held out a pencil and a piece of paper, with the same exact words on it. Then he vanished into the shadows._

 _And now Gracie knew. That person, was Jolie._

Gracie gasped as her memory faded, and she sat down in her seat, not listening to a word that Mr. Forkle was saying. She had only heard of Jolie once, and that was Dex talking about her to Sophie once. She just couldn't help eavesdropping.

Dex later had shown Gracie a picture of Jolie, who looked exactly like the girl staring at her. Dex said that Jolie was dead, but was she really?

"Guys, I'm gonna check on Angel," Gracie interrupted Mr. Forkle as he was lecturing mid-sentence.

"Go on, Ms. Gracie." He said, shooing her away, and he continued discussing the battle plans.


	11. Chapter 11

**Thank you Soul-of-Storie for reviewing! Btw the person-Brady-mentioned on the previous page wants to be added in this. So here goes!**

 **Story time!**

"Angel?"

Gracie cautiously walked over to where Angel sat in a tree. Gracie shifted into a bird and perched near Angel. "Angel, what's wrong?"

No response. Weird. Angel was never irresponsive. Gracie gently touched Angel's arm, which immediately crumbled to dust. Gracie gasped as Angel's form collapsed into a mound of dirt before her eyes.

For a moment Gracie was struck by pure fear. Then she realized that this Angel must have been a fake. Angel disappeared in a mound of junk! How could she have forgotten?

She jumped off the tree and ran back to the meeting. Washers must have snuck in somehow and erased their memories that Angel had disappeared. That meant two things: The security wasn't very secure, and Angel was in danger.

She ran in, panting, and in one breath, said: "Angel was a mound of dirt and she disappeared in trash! Remember?"

The other Black Swan members looked at her like she was insane. Gracie cleared her throat. "No time. Remember how Angel actually disappeared in a mound of trash?"

As realization dawned on them, Gracie continued. "So, the Angel that ran out was actually fake an turned out to be a mound of dirt. Now, we look for the real Angel. No time to plan battle! Let's go already!"

"Of course, Ms. Gracie, but I'd like Ms. Mali here to catch you up on our battle plans. Mr. Jason, Ms. Renee, Ms. Sam, Ms. Adria and Ms. Alexandra may come with me to help find Angel. Ms. Adria, do you have any idea where Angel might be?"

Adria snorted at the formality of Mr. Forkle's tone, but answered; "She may be in Alluveterre prison. After Keefe here stole the leaping crystal to Alluveterre-" at this, everyone gave Keefe the death glare "-The Neverseen knew that you guys wouldn't come back, so they turned it into a prison."

Mr. Forkle nodded, then asked: "Who is on guard there? Will we be able to defeat them?"

Alexandra laughed from the shadows. "Brady? He's pretty hard to get past."

The mood suddenly thickened when they heard Alexandra's answer. Even Adria pursed her lips.

"Okay then... we'll find Angel anyway. Let's go!" Mali stood up and shifted into a snake, and grabbed the Alluveterre crystal in Adria's pocket before Adria could see what was going on. Not that Adria cared...

"Well, off we go!" Mali said, holding up the crystal and vanishing in the light. Sam and Jason looked at each other, then shrugged and jumped in the light at the same time. Alexandra and Adria came after that. And Gracie, Renee and Mr. Forkle vanished later. Tam and Linh then, and the other elves. The light estinguished when the last people leapt away, and the elves landed on the dirt ground to see a hooded figure in a black cloak holding a knife at Mali's snake throat. Mali didn't look all that worried; she could dodge knives even if it was extremely close. Mr. Forkle and her had had specific lessons on that.

Adria frowned. "Brady. Bro, lower the knife."

Brady laughed, giving Mali the chance to slither away and onto his neck, ready to suffocate him if needed.

"Well, if it isn't for the former best of the Neverseen! Traitors, are we? Well then, I can't let Black Swan folks into the prison!" Brady threw a knife at Sam, who wasn't quick enough to respond.

Jason quickly transformed into a fox and hit the knife out of the way just as it was going to pierce Sam's heart. Brady raised an eyebrow. "Adria, you've taught them well. But not well enough!"

He shot out seven darts at a time, each aiming for a target, and Mali tookhat asher cue to strangle him. The Shifters transformed into smaller forms and the daggers missed their heads, but Brady vanished and reappeared with a knife at Renee's throat. "Hi." Renee managed. Sam resisted the urge to slap her forehead.

Brady laughed. He turned to Adria. "Who's laughing now, clever shade?"

"I am!" Renee growled, and she ducked the dagger, punching Brady in the gut. Out of a corner of her eye, she saw Gracie using a hairpin to unlock Angel's cage, which was more like a tank. No matter how small ir how big of an animal she shifted into, she couldn't bream through.

For dramatic effect, Renee let out a nervous chuckle, and together, Adria and Alexandra attacked from behind, strangling Brady. Eventually, Sam pinned him to the ground and Angel was freed. She flew over in bird form and told Sam to get off. Sam raised an eyebrow, but glared at Brady one more time before backing off.

"Guys! He's not with the Neverseen!"

"WHAT THE HECK?!" Brady hissed, pointing at a camera in the back of the prison. He took care of that by putting a knife through the glass.

Everyone was genuinely surprised, but then Renee started laughing. "So you did all this for the camera? You'd be an actor someday!"

Brady blushed. "Mneh. Anyway, let's go before Ruy comes to take his turn."

Adria reached in her pocket for the crystal, then looked pointedly at Mali. Mali remembered that she had taken the crystal, and held it up with her tail and vanished in he light. Elf after elf came after her, and Adria was left wit Brady. Brady shooed her forward. After Adria jumped in, he wrapped chains around the door. He could hear Vespera coming down the hall. Just before she reached the door he jumped in and vanished in a flash of blue light.


	12. Chapter 12

"Let me get this straight. Brady, the person who the Neverseen has been relying on to guard their prison for years already, is secretly on our side?" Alexandra asked, giving Brady a suspicious look. Adria was suspicious too. "Yeah, last time I checked, he was Vespera's favorite."

"Adria, you were Vespera's favorite, remember? And then she tried to kill you in the night. After I heard the news, I immediately kept on guard. You can't trust the Neverseen." Brady leaned back against the couch in Havenfield's living room, and sipped a bit of his lushberry juice.

"I guess he has a point," Sam admitted, "But we still don't know whether he's lying or not. As he said, the Neverseen can't be trusted. And he was originally a member of the Neverseen. What let's us trust him now?"

Renee stood up. "Let's talk about this in… private. I'll let Alexandra stay on guard in case Brady does anything suspicious, and since she can read minds, we can open our minds to her. We'll have to catch Lilly and Kate up on all this too."

Keefe shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe that I've just met, like, twenty people in less than a week. And now they're going to fight against our sworn enemy group. This is bizarre, Foster."

"Ya think?" Sophie rolled her eyes in Keefe's direction. Everyone except for Alexandra huddled up and started arguing about what to do with Brady, all the while with Brady sipping his juice as if nothing were happening. Suddenly, Gracie stood up, smiling like a weirdo. "Guys, I figured it out!" she shouted. Everyone looked at her either in anticipation or in a weird way. "We're in a book!" she concluded.

Most of the Shifters laughed, but the other people just looked around awkwardly. Gracie cleared her throat to explain, but Edaline halted her. "We can hear your theory later, Gracie. The Neverseen is attacking soon, and we need a plan." Gracie sat down again with a small pout on her face. It was just a theory! A film theory! Just kidding…. No one get's her jokes.

"I say we kill him!" Grady growled, making Sophie, Keefe, and Dex roll their eyes, and making Linh look away, uncomfortable of the violence. "No! I saw we should let him fight, then kill him," Adria shrugged carelessly. All her training in the Neverseen has truly taught her how to be ruthless.

"We don't want to be like the Neverseen, using people and then just killing them off when they are no longer useful in battle plans," Angel countered, a few more Shifters nodded their agreement.

"I say that we should keep careful watch over him while he stays," Gracie offered, and everyone pretty much agreed with that, even Adria. "He could fight, besides, he's pretty good with weapons. As I have already seen."

"Yeah. I guess. Alexandra, are you picking up on all of this?" Mali asked the thin air. After a few seconds of waiting, Alexandra's voice penetrated their minds, saying; _yup. All the while sending it to your friends Lilly and Kate. And the old smelly dude… what was his name? Mr. Forkey?"_

 _Close,_ Angel thought. She still couldn't believe that in a few weeks, she was already in a new place, new world, and involved in battle plans. In fact, she couldn't believe that she could shapeshift. According to what she heard, elves were incredibly smart. She had to disagree with that. Elves may be quite knowledgeable, but some of the choices that they make aren't all that mighty and good. (I'm looking at you, Councillors…)

Gracie, at the other side of the group, had almost similar thoughts. Elves were supposed to be smart. She was an elf. Was she a straight A student? No. Was she the genius in class? No. Did she get average grades? Yes. Did she skip, like, fifty grades? No. Overall, Gracie thought of herself as an average girl in the human world. Which means in the elven world, she would be wayyyyyyyyy below average. Then how could she still be an elf?

 _I hear you, Tracie,_ Alexandra's voice echoed in Gracie's mind. She rolled her eyes and transmitted back; _My name is Gracie, not Tracie. Stop eavesdropping on my private thoughts. Go read Keefe's mind or something. I can bet you it'll be full of his love for Sophie Foster._

Alexandra chuckled. _I bet the same. You have average grades in school in the human world, Gracie? You think you're not special? Well, the average human wouldn't think that deeply about themselves, Gracie. Which means that you are not abnormal, but you are above normal. Gracie, being smart doesn't mean knowing everything in school, having a photographic memory, none of that stuff. Being smart means knowing how you are special. Being smart is knowing how you can improve._

Wow. Alexandra's got deep words. Gracie thought about what Alexandra had just explained to her. Was it true? How was Gracie special?

 _Thanks. I'll think about it,_ Gracie thought, just as the huddling up meeting ended. Being funny wasn't always easy. All her friends enjoyed laughing at her, laughing with her, attempting to do her crazy dances, like what she called the 'security infracture' for people who have been 'mcfallen'. They all failed.

Gracie smiled at the thought. She sort of wished that she didn't live in a giant mansion, with her family's memories wiped. She sort of wished that she wasn't an elf. So she could have a normal life, making people laugh, continuing her lifelong dream as a writer. But now, none of that was going to happen.

Alexandra winked at Gracie, and Gracie smiled back at Alexandra. Maybe… just maybe… she was special after all.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hiiii guys, I'm so sorry that I haven't been on here in so long, well, I'm directing this at those who even care... anyway, I'm back! Since summer is my busiest season, I may not be on here daily, or even usually, so... ya. But I will try to use my free time to come to fanfiction and read all your stories! Alright! So this js going to be the chapter right before the battlescene, and I can assure you that the battlescene will not be pretty...**

 **Wow, I'm having some really dark thoughts here. Anyway, storytime!**

"We need someone to maybe... spy on the Neverseen?" Sam suggested. Mr. Forkle resisted the urge to roll his eyes and replied; "ya think?"

Mali shrugged. "Well, perhaps one of our Neverseen crew members has the answers. I have my bets on Brady here."

Adria and Alexandra immediately put their hands up, signaling that they don't have any information whatsoever for the battle. "All I know is that the Neverseen are stupid enough to try to capture the Shifters and then somehow suck their Shifting abilities out of their DNA and into theirs so they can kill the council with their power." Alexandra shook her head in disappointment. "I thought they would be smarter than that too Adria."

Then she turned to Brady and simply commanded; "Now spill the beans." Brady shrugged. "As you wish," he replied cooly, and popped open the can of beans on the table, the sent them spewing out on the ground in all directions. Jason and Renee sighed as they bent down and picked the pieces up, then walked all the way over to the garbage can in the kitchen to theow it away.

Mali shifted into a snake, and wrapped Brady in her coils. "You know what Alexandra meant!" She hissed. Brady rolled his eyes. "Okay okay! Sheesh! Brr! Ugh! It was just a joke for heaven's sake! Learn to take a joke!"

"Learn to make one," Linh replied almost instantly. Then, embarrased, she covered her mouth. "Whoa," Sophie started when the awkward silence in this room started to reach it's limits. "Where has our sweet innocent Linh gone? Who is this newcomer?"

Linh chuckled, and Tam leaned against a wall, smiling. "I've been learning witty comebacks," Linh began. "I'm tired of being bullied at Foxfire."

"THAT IS AWESOME!" Keefe shouted, holding out a hand for her to high-five. "Let's go Watergirl!" Linh blushed, and sheepishly allowed her hair to block her face as she slowly backed up to the back of the group. Keefe, rejected, gave a small pout as Tam chuckled in triumph.

Brady rolled his eyes again. "Do you want me to tell you everything again or not?" Immediately everyone's attention snapled back towards Brady, and he laughed. "That was a quick response. Now-oh, Tam, love your shirt today."

Mali squeezed him tighter, and he sighed. "Okay, I'll get on with it. Vespera wants to attack the day after tomorrow, when the Shifters still don't have enough skills to be fighting the war. Her plan is to break the Neverseen up into groups, and since fhe Black Swan doesn't have very big of an army, and the Council, making very wrong choices, will arrest the Black Swan if we ask for their help. Then the Shifters will be doomed. So the Neverseen will break into their small groups as well and one by one, take us down. I think what will happen is that since they have about twice the amount of people that we have, they will have two people vs one person. Vespera herself will be using her "genius technology" to distract us with illusions, so..."

"Got it!" Angel said. "So the simple solution is we keep training right now, We have 36 hours to train, lets go lets go lets go!" Angel sprang up in her seat and grabbed Sam as her partner, and they immediately began practising moves with each other while everyone else watched them awkwardly. In the middle of a battle, Angel shifted back into human and asked the group; "well? What are we waiting for? Gk train shifters!"

Mr. Forkle held up a hand to stop the Shifters who had grabbed a partner and also started training. "Ms. Angel, we understand your reasoning and logic. However we must have the battle plan laid out first before we can begin working on our skills, or else we won't know what skills to be working on. If you wish, you may leave and allow the rest of the adults to make the battle decisions."

Angel pouted and reluctantly sank back into her seat, her arms crossed. All the other shifters caught on quickly and sank in their seats in the same position as Angel, glaring at a spot on the table. The Keepers started laughing, and Mali rolled her eyes at them. "Well, I'm glad you find our anger amusing!"

Sophie waves away Mali's response. "No no, it's not that. I was just thinking how we could have missed it. Angel, weren't you and Jason and Renee working on something together?"

The three Shifters' eyes darted back and forth between each other, while the rest of the group patiently awaited them to do their trick. Finally, Angel shrugged and morphed into a cat, the three others doing the same. They then morphed into a table, which made the audience gasp. They never expected Shifters could morph into tables, which is a non-living thing. Then the table legs started walking around, terrorizing the Keeler squad.

After that, Angel transformed into a palm tree, whils Jason transformed into a blade of grass, and Renee transformed into an iPhone. "Whoa," Adria whispered to Alexandra, who was also impressed by this so called "trick". Suddenly, Angel transformed into a terrifying creature, that looks almost like the monster in the Temple Run game that's chasing you. If you don't know what that is, uh, play temple run!

Jason transformed into something even more terrifying; a three-headed, growling dog. And Renee transformed to the absolutely most terrifying of them all; (dun Dun DUNNNN!) the VERMINION!

Sophie shrieked at that, and clung on to the nearest person to her, which happened to bs Dex. Dex sat there awkwardly as Keefe looked on jealously. Then the three Shifters re-transformed and took a bow, the Black Swan applauding. Fitz piped up; "so the Shifters can shift into whatever they can imagine?"

"Yes, with enough practice," Jason answered. Biana raised a hand, and Angel called on her. "So they can transform into a puddle of water or a blazing flame?"

"Yes," Angel answered immediately, transforming into a fire that quickly spread over the floor. Then she transformed back into herself, the flames merging back together and the floor stays unscorched. Biana nodded.

Everyone looked at each other, and slowly, they all understood. Sophie smiled, Sam following. So this was the key to success over the Neverseen.


End file.
